I blog about my jewelry inspirations. Readers will find that various elements of nature are my inspirations. Of course, I include jewelry making tips. This blog also includes some of my favorite Etsy shops, bead shops and jewelry customers.

Friday, May 19, 2017

We're All Ears :: May Inspiration :: Trash Transformed

Recycling and repurposing help the earth.

This month's We're All Ears challenge comes at a perfect time for me. I hate to throw away so many things, but I have to downsize or my house will explode. My favorite part of the challenge is to disguise something or alter it to save it from being discarded. Before I began I checked out this collection of recycled jewelry from www.RecycleArt.org. Who knew trash could be so beautiful? One trick to creating from junk or trash is to transform something unrecognizable from its former state. Another tip is to mix materials....found objects with new beads, art beads with upcycled treasures. The challenge is to take something that no one would expect in jewelry and elevating it to the level of adornment thus saving it from the landfill.

photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@anniespratt

I took a long look through my large button collection. This made me organize my buttons a little more by size as well as color. I threw out some broken ones along the way, I then searched for matching pairs. I was pretty surprised that I did't have too many matching pairs. I then went through my bead collection to find beads that went with the 2 pairs of buttons that I choose to turn into earrings.

I found two matching olive green buttons in my stash that I turned them into a pair of long dangle earrings. These OOAK earrings combine the colors of olive green, chartreuse, and yellow. I used olive green buttons and beads with silver jump rings, and chartreuse leaves. These upcycled earrings hanging about 2" long from silver plated lever back ear wires.

The other pair of matching buttons I found are gray. OOAK silver dangle earrings are created with gray buttons, silver jump rings and beads, and red flower beads. These upcycled earrings hanging about 2" long. I love silver, black and red together.

Button jewelry is always unique and I think these green dangles hit the mark.

I have lot more buttons and junk! I have some tin cans I have been saving to make beads for jewelry. I hope to find time to get this project done soon and blog about it. Right now I am busy trying to get ready for a local craft fair--The Delaware by Hand Spring Outdoor show. If you are in the Lewes, Delaware area on Saturday, May 27, 2017, please stop by. More to come on that topic next week.

5 comments:

Great idea to upcycle those buttons! So pretty! They make great connectors and I also love using buttons with a shank as a clasp for a bracelet or necklace. So glad that you played along in my wacky challenge! Enjoy the day! Erin